- This topic has 60 replies, 12 voices, and was last updated 7 years, 10 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Weaver is tipping his pitches. That is the sole plausible explanation. Why Maddux can’t figure this out and fix it, after 5 months, is beyond me.
The velocity is the same as when Weaver was dominant last year. The movement is the same. The repertoire is identical. But the hitters know what’s coming.
For two months in 2017 Weaver was one of the most effective pitchers in baseball, with 58 K’s and just 8 walks! Only 8 earned runs allowed in those 7 starts plus a relief appearance, covering a little over 40 innings.
Then the Cubs lit him up. Then the Brewers. And now it’s pretty much everyone. This is a guy who was as dominant as anyone in the minors for two years, and then the same in the majors. And now, despite the same velocity & movement, he stinks?! Only tipping can explain it.
Anybody remember when John Smoltz was broadcasting a Cards/SF series a couple years back, and he talked about Cueto and Samardzija, who were then pitching for the Giants? Casual as you please, Smoltz mentioned that the reason Cueto got lit up as a Royal, and Samardzija got murdered when on the White Sox, was that they were BOTH tipping their pitches.
Smoltz said it like it was no big revelation, like it was in fact common knowledge, but personally I never heard or read anything else about it, before or since. I strongly suspect that pitch-tipping is a MUCH larger part of the game than is publicly advertised — for obvious reasons.
And Weaver has been tipping, I have no doubt whatsoever.
The Cards are now 81-64, 3.5 back of Chicago and 1.5 back of Milwaukee in the Central and 3 games up on LA, 4 ahead of Arizona for the wild card. There are 17 games to go.
Ricky Horton said last night that Weaver’s problem was that he only has two pitches, fastball and change up. He has no curveball at all. He rarely throws it and when he does it gets crushed.
He had better develop a curveball this winter or he will be in Memphis next year.
Bob might be on to something with Weaver tipping his pitches. I wonder if something might be wrong; an injury of some sort. But if the velocity is there, then likely he has either lost command, which he has to some degree as his control is not as sharp as when he was successful, or he is tipping,or both.
It is pretty bad when you cannot even get through an inning with a 10 run lead.
The velocity is definitely just fine, Mike.
In fact, Weaver’s velocity is slightly UP compared to last year. Also he’s throwing the curveball slightly MORE often than when he was dominating last season…so at the very least it doesn’t look like an injury is to blame, and we can’t in all fairness blame it on a limited repertoire — regardless of what Mr. Horton says on the air.
The Cards need to bring in Chris Carpenter and have him watch the young guy pitch in a game situation. Carp was known for spotting a big tipper. Helped Waino a couple of times when Adam was young(er), I believe.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.